1. Describe the smell of popcorn. The allure and memories associated with it.
2. Write a short history for a penny found in the shopping mall parking lot.
3. You name your pet goldfish, Ichabod. What's the story behind that?
4. Dragons are real. Three of them just appeared in your living room looking for...
5. Explore the world of cracked pavement. What stories are there in the wrinkles of tar we drive over?
6. Watch for little things lost along the road next time you're walking somewhere. How did they get there?
7. Write a cheerleading cheer for a high school sports team. (Use a real school or make one up).
8. You pick up a dime from the sidewalk. How does that change your day?
9. Write a note you would post around the neighbourhood for a missing pet snake.
10. Explain why garlic really isn't a way to keep the vampires away.
11. Write a grocery list from a dog's point of view.
12. If you had a robot housekeeper what would you have them do first?
13. How would you write an ad to sell laundry soap?
14. Out of all the non-eventful, ordinary days, which would you pick as your favourite and why?
15. Use your real initials and choose a new name for yourself.
16. Your parking meter has run out, what story do you think up to avoid getting a ticket?
17. Write a memorial service speech for a bug you squished.
18. You decide to start a community newsletter. What do you call it?
19. They say there are rocks in your head, what kind are they?
20. What's the idol outfit for a Barbie doll?
21. What was the last small thing you did for the environment/ green living?
22. Think of all the different ways a book can end up soaked in water?
23. Write about something really unusual spilled on your kitchen floor.
24. You win a free day to travel in a horse and carriage, what do you do with it?
25. A space alien visits you and asks for breakfast, what do you give them?
26. You get the worst service ever in a restaurant. What do you do about it?
27. You wake up, outside wearing a shower curtain and mismatched slippers. What happened?
28. Invent a new flavour of tea, something just barely drinkable.
29. You dream and are able to speak to insects. What do you talk about with them?
30. How do you get their permission to throw mud pies at people to win a game show?
31. Talk about chicken to a classroom of school kids.
32. It's a case of mistaken identity but how do you handle someone insisting you're someone else?
33. What's the weirdest thing you would eat on toast?
34. Think of a new way to reuse (repurpose) CDs/ DVDs instead of throwing them out.
35. Without looking in your closet, what are three items you could do without to declutter?
36. On a cooking show you have to create a designer sandwich. What do you make?
37. Come up with a creative use for a long chain of paperclips linked together.
38. Write a letter to a bird.
39. In one word, sum up the feeling of walking in the rain.
40. Write a speech for a puppet.
41. Hold an argument with an inanimate object.
42. You forget to put on your pants... but it's not the nightmare you expected.
43. Holding 500 helium balloon you discover you actually can rise into the air. What happens next?
44. Write a review for a book you didn't like. Find something uplifting for the author's feedback.
45. What's the worst typo you can imagine?
46. Write a "Day One" journal about living under the sea.
47. Create a riddle then see if anyone can figure out the answer.
48. Create a great female character for a video game. A real player, not a bystander with big boobs.
49. Write the life of a pair of bedroom slippers.
50. Think of a really creative way to gift wrap something, but stick to natural/ green living ways (no paper or plastic).
51. What is your favourite colour and why is it your favourite?

There have been all kinds of private detectives, investigators and amateur sleuths in fiction. It would be hard to come up with a completely new character. But, if that were your challenge... what can you come up with?

How Stuff Works: How Private Investigators Work

It's too much of a stretch to create a private detective as a baby. Though it would be interesting to work out the bugs on that idea, it just seems too much to expect a baby to get around well enough to get the job done. Not to mention the language barrier.

So my idea for a new detective is a teenager, a girl but not at all the Nancy Drew type. This girl is into body art and dresses all in black. People tend to cross to the other side of the street to avoid her. She's actually very clever but hides it, not wanting to look geeky to her friends. Some how she gets wrapped up in a mystery to help a friend or neighbour.

Invent your own detective, give it a try.

What is your ideal setting...

• Full of stimulating things.
• Cozy, safe, perfect to snuggle up.
• Secluded, clean and luxurious.
• Common, open and busy.

Which would you pick and what do you think it says about you? Write a description for each kind of setting and the character you would find there.

Getting off-seasonal with Eliza Dashwood (Word Ferret), for a horror writing prompt. I admit, I also read a lot of the paranormal chick lit stuff. Some may call it dark fantasy, paranormal fiction, etc. I think paranormal chick lit covers it well for me. Some of my favourite paranormal writers are: Michelle Rowen, Kelley Armstrong, Kresley Cole, Gena Showalter, Tanith Lee, Rachel Vincent, Katie MacAlister, Kerrelyn Sparks. Not hard core horror but I don't enjoy being really scared.

In her post Eliza writes about her early discovery of vampires, in her own home. What would be your story for a horror tale? I am very sure you have had some idea for a horror plot at some point. Maybe not a romantic story. Maybe one with a lot more edge and real terror in your horror. Write an outline for your plot. When you've done that, could you put more work and energy into it and turn it into a full story? How about trying it as a short story for an online publication? Test the blood... I mean water, for yourself as a horror writer.

Eliza and her vampires think you should.

Today (November 27th) would be my Dad's birthday. I think he would be 77 years old. He isn't here any more however. He died several years ago. We never got along well, he was not my best supporter in life or anything else. His theme in life seemed to be "Don't bother" and those were, in fact, his last words in this life.

There are not a lot of second chances in life. In his case, there are none at all. I don't know if he ever regretted how things were/ are in the family with him. I wonder sometimes if people do see how their families live on after they have died. I think of him watching the fallout from his actions in life. I like to think of someone telling him that he could have been a better Father, a better person. (Not that he was awful or that I blame him for everything I'm not happy about myself and my life, that would be silly). But, I do like to think that he would have some regrets. I won't ever know of course. Or, not while I'm still alive anyway, after that... maybe I will see him again when we are both deceased. That isn't something I can predict.

Write about meeting someone who disappointed or hurt you after you are both deceased. How does the meeting go, how does it start? When it is all over do you feel better or worse?